Chapter 4 The train.
The train station was in utter chaos when Kathleen arrived Dr Murray had told her which train she that was on. On arriving she told the army trooper who she was and he pointed out which train she was to be on and he checked her name against a list of key personal who where to be on the train.
"Okay," He said "could you place your self towards the rear of the train as your colleague is at the front,"
"Sure," She replied thinking that they weren't talking chances, she sat herself down a seat next to a window, before long the carriage was full of people all worried but happy at last to be leaving the stricken city. There were some definite sighs of relief when the train began to pull out of the station and down into the tunnel net work that would eventually take them out of the city. Kathleen rested her head against the window and drifted off to sleep, she was woken abruptly by the sudden breaking of the train, and she was not sure exactly how long she had been asleep for. But suddenly there came the sound of crushing metal and she was throw forward with tremendous speed crashing into the seat in front of her she lost consciousness.
In the control room at the station the personnel braced themselves against yet another earthquake when it had finished that looked at their consoles and knew they had a big problem. They began to try and raise the train it took a while but at last they managed to raise one of the passengers, but they also knew that they had no way to reach them,
"What do we do?"One man asked his boss,
"The only thing that we can do, "He said to them,"Call International Rescue,"
Jeff sat at his desk going through Brains reports on the situation, when John's eyes showed the emergency signal,
"Go ahead John,"
"I've just heard from Trans pacific rail road father, it seams that they got a train trapped in one of the tunnels and got no way to reach the passengers,"
"How many people trapped,"?
"About 25 survived the actual crash,"
"How many was there on the train?"Jeff asked his heart sinking, John's own face paled,
"About 200,"Jeff hung his head, but he knew that there was not much time to be able to rescue the survivors. All the others by now had arrived and waited to be briefed on what had happened, again Jeff felt that same sense of dread as once again he sent his sons out.
Arriving at the scene and set the mobile communications station Scott then asked for a map of the tunnel system,
"We know that the train was in this section when it crashed, "The controller told him," The problem is that these maps aren't entirely accurate they could be a hundred yards out either way,"
"Is there any other way in?"Scott asked concerned
"You might be able to send a man down the air shafts,"He said dubiously"It would be a perilous way down but it could be possible,"Scott nodded. At that point Virgil arrived.
"What's the plan?"He asked, Scott looked up from where he was sitting,
"Someone's going to have to go down to the train and attach beckons to the tunnel walls, we can't run the risk of using the mole until we know exactly where the tunnel runs,"Virgil shrugged.
"I'll get ready then," He turned to leave,"Someone will have to show me where the entrances that we need are," and Virgil turned to leave,
"Virgil,"Scott began concerned
"I will if you will,"Scott nodded and watched him leave, both Alan and Gordon also watched concerned.
Kathleen regained consciousness as she did she was aware of others crying around her, she knew her head hurt, placing he hand on her head she was aware of the blood that was now on her fingers, with a groan she sat upright again trying to get her bearings,
"You okay?"A voice asked her, she looked up at the figure that was bent over her,
"I think so,"She said as she tried to sit up, the man offered her his hand and with a slight groan she managed to herself into an upright position,"In the compartment above there's a black bag could you get it for me?"
"Sure,"He passed it down to her,
"Thanks,"Opening up the bag she got out some antiseptic spray and a mirror out of her normal bag and she cleaned up the wound on her forehead, luckily it wasn't to deep, but she got some skin glue out of the bag and carefully stuck the wound together,
"You a doctor?" The man asked, Kathleen nodded, at that point she stood up she swayed slightly and had to grab hold of the seat in front of her for a second until she felt better knowing that she was rushing things a bit but also knowing that there wasn't much alternative,
"What injuries are there?"She asked, putting aside all her tiredness, the young mans head dropped,
"Most people seam to be dead,"Kathleen felt her heart drop,"I came into this carriage to see if any was alive in here,"
"How many carriages are intact?"
"Only this one and the one in front, "Kathleen's eyes widened, then she sighed,
"I suppose I'd better get to work,"She knew that she couldn't expect any additional help if what the man had said was true,"Have we got contact to the outside world yet?" She asked, the man nodded,
"Yes a Mr Davis is talking to the control room now,"
"Right I think I need to talk with him first,"She walked forward towards the carriage in front and through the connecting doors between the two carriages, entering the carriage she found in as much disarray as the other carriage, the man was still talking on the radio,
"How long until we can expect any help?"
"Their not sure, "He said."They've called international rescue to help us out,"
"But it still could take them hours to reach us?"The man nodded,"Right I'm a doctor what I need is co-operation from everyone,"
"To be honest there's not that many injured," He said sadly
"Well lets get them into just one carriage if we can,"She said "It will be easier no me that way,"She sighed."And lets try to put the dead at the rear of the train, so we can at least keep this carriage clear and I know its gruesome but if we can identify the dead it would help their families,"
Much to Kathleen's relief the man proved an expert at organising and with in an hour it was all sorted, and Kathleen could get on and sort out the wounded, thankfully there did not seam to be any serious injuries. But out of the couple of hundred that were on the train all that survived were 25 of them, when at last she had finished her work she went back up to Mr Davis,
"Has anyone tired to get to the carriages further up the train?"
"Yes," He said sadly," The carriages up there are totally crushed where the tunnel has given way;" He sat heavily on a seat." And the control tower has been unable to reach anyone else further up," With a sigh Kathleen added her colleague to the list of the dead, when he saw what she had done." I'm sorry," She realised that all they could do now was pray for help to arrive before the rest of the tunnel collapsed.